


Heroes deserve a Happy Ending

by luckylagart



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: ? - Freeform, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fuck you Russo bros for messing with my feelings, Hurt, I adore Steve so much, M/M, One-Sided Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, SUFFER WITH ME, but endgame fucked me up, endgame fucked me up emotionally, even though it’s up to the readers interpretation, i guess this could be ambiguous ending, i guess this might have a happy ending, i should have been working on my bnha fanfic instead of this, i swear I normally write fluff and humour, perhaps not?, perhaps?, sorry if this hurt you as well, steve didn’t deserve this, tony didn’t deserve that either, up to the reader - Freeform, why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 11:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18991939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckylagart/pseuds/luckylagart
Summary: Steve’s last conversation with Tony.





	Heroes deserve a Happy Ending

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first work on ao3 and in the Stony Fandom!
> 
> I swear to god this just came to me two days after watching Endgame (like three days after the worldwide premiere) at like 1 am and I just had to write it (but I only posted it until now). Before Endgame I never read a single Avengers Fanfic even though I’m a big fan of Marvel but after Endgame I needed something to make me feel better and I can’t believe this is now my first work on this godforsaken website.  
> ...This fandom is self destructive.
> 
> If someone already wrote something like this, I have no idea because I read like 10 Stony Fanfics and none of them had this plot so yeah. 
> 
> (I also like Stucky but I needed Stony after Endgame.)
> 
> (...sorry bestie this isn’t bnha)
> 
> ALSO A WONDERFUL AND BIG SHOUTOUT TO MY BETA CakeyDill WHO LOOKED OVER MY GRAMMER ISSUES BECAUSE I SUCK AT ENGLISH SHE IS WONDERFUL SO YEAH THANK YOU SO MUCH DEARIE; CHECK HER OUT: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CakeyDill

For a moment, it almost seemed as if everything was alright.

“Hey Cap.”

Almost.

Steve had to hold back a choke and whispered a very small “Hey Tony” that didn’t fit with his super soldier persona. However, right now he wasn’t Captain America; he was just a tired boy from Brooklyn.

“It seems as if everything went as planned, huh?” Tony asked, with a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. Steve already wanted to leave.

Steve was sitting on the couch of Tony’s living room, his friends and other guests somewhere else, trying to give him space. Tony was in front of him, sitting in a lone chair. He seemed calm but his hands were twitching like he was trying to build something that obviously wasn’t there. It was such a normal sight.

“It’s kinda strange- pun intended- to be doing this,” the shorter man said with a chuckle and Steve couldn’t stop the small smile. Because this was familiar, this was Tony.

“I kinda knew it would end like this and well, if I’m telling you all this it means we won. Strange was right. I’m relieved you did it, Cap.”

Steve wished he could say the same.

“I wasn’t sure if you would even hear me out but I guess Captain America- a name that you should have changed by the way because I’ve never seen you in South America- he’s a man of good manners and he listens to what I say out of respect,” Tony said with a shrug but the smile he had been trying to maintain was slowly vanishing.

Steve already wanted to argue that he would listen to him, that he would hear him out as Captain America or Steve Rogers but before he could, Tony started talking again.

“That was what I thought first. But then I remembered that this isn’t for Captain America. This is for Steve Rogers... my friend.”

Suddenly, Steve felt as if he’d been punched in the gut; as if Bucky had been testing his Vibranium Prosthetic against his ribs. He closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. He wished Tony would stop talking so he could leave the room, but he needed to hear his voice. However, Tony couldn’t notice his struggle and kept talking.

“I guess I never called you like that again... we both fucked up in Siberia,” Steve could only nod his head slowly at that, “Of course you fucked even more up than I did,” Tony added lightheartedly and Steve didn’t miss the small amused tone he used. This was what Steve yearned to hear.

“Nowadays I wish things would have gone differently. That we’d have talked about it, perhaps exchanged a few punches, but not the way it turned out,” and Steve couldn’t agree more.

“Oh,” Tony gasped and Steve raised his head to look at Tony once more, “That just reminded me of something. I’m not really sure it will be appreciated, but tell Barnes that I forgive him. Well kinda. I still want to punch his teeth out and everything but I guess it needed to be said. After all, the guy was brainwashed and I can’t really blame him on involuntarily turning into a puppet,” the mechanic said and turned his head so he wasn’t facing anything but his shoes. Steve was surprised and almost wanted to stand up from the couch to go hug his friend. 

He almost did.

“It’s also kinda obvious that if I forgive that brute, I also forgive you.” Steve breathed in, feeling like he hadn’t in the last few years, “I will never forget the feeling of rejection that day but I understand why you were doing it. You are my friend; Barnes was your brother. I could never come first there, huh.” Steve could almost feel the dejection, the hurt. He wanted to tell Tony that it was all his fault; that both Bucky and Tony were important to him, both in two different ways; that he was sorry for everything and he wished there was a way to change how things between them turned out. If he could, he’d have changed a lot.

“Our friendship started rough and seemed to only stay that way. Howard always talked about you like you were a god, always told me how much of a great man you were, how I should follow your example,” Tony said and then paused for a moment. He seemed to zone out for a moment until he smiled again and continued talking. “Y’know, I really despised you when I was younger, felt like my father was fooled and romanticised you, because no person could be as perfect as he described you... Well, now I know I was wrong. I’m not sure how you feel about... us- and I bet you don’t feel the same because you’re an old fashioned grandpa from the 40’s that still calls me out for saying ‘fuck’- but I wish there could have been more.”

Steve felt like he was drowning. He felt his chest ache so deeply how it only happened when he was falling with the jet into the ice. Or when he told Peggy how much he wanted to go dance with her. It was torture. Like acid, slowly eating him from the inside. He wanted someone to punch him until unconsciousness and then some more. Because his heart was breaking all over again. 

“I don’t know how you’re taking this news but since you’re probably disgusted or confused, let me explain what I had in mind,” 

Steve wasn’t disgusted or confused, didn’t need him to explain. 

“I should tell you everything I feel, but I guess you know by now.”

Steve already knew. He probably always did.

“I once had planned to live with the Avengers, like y’know, a student dorm in the Avengers tower or in the facilities. We’d all hang out and eat pizza in movie nights and hide each other’s stuff and run out for an emergency together- I was ready to live out a cliché. I had it all planned out. The Avengers- Work-partners, Heroes and Friends’- that was my dream. It could have been, we could have been. Sometimes it seemed as if it was working out. As if life was going according to plan.”

Steve had imagined such a life as well.

Tony was looking at something in the distance and sighed, “But I guess a god up there didn’t want it that way- and I’m not talking about good ol’ Thor. One thing happened after the other: Ultron, Pepper, Barnes, Sokovia, now Thanos, it was always something.” He sounded now frustrated only to sigh in defeat,

“...perhaps we were never meant to be, Steve.”

And that was the worst thing Steve had heard in his entire life.

Tony was still looking in the distance, still looking at something that didn’t exist but he could still probably see. He looked tired, worse than those days when Steve knew he hadn’t slept. It was rare for Tony Stark to show his real emotions and rarer to let Steve see them.

He looked broken.

Just like Steve.

And then all of a sudden, Tony smiled. 

It wasn’t a smirk or grin that he was known for, the ones he used when being Tony Stark or Iron Man. It wasn’t one he sent his comrades when he made an inadequate joke. It was a small smile. A vulnerable smile. Something probably only Pepper, Rhodey and his daughter had seen... and now Steve.

“I had a good life, Steve. I really did. I made friends, a bunch of freaks that showed me I wasn’t the worst person. I loved Pepper, the best friend and wife someone could wish for. I met Peter, who I consider the son I never had. I had Morgan, my beautiful and bright little girl, who I hope has an even brighter future because of what we managed to do. And I found you, Steve... the future I would never have. You have to know, I am happy for the life I had, despite everything.”

Tony looked up and somehow the hologram version of Earth’s best defender and greatest hero looked Steve directly in his eyes. Soft and yet strong brown found arctic blue. Tony’s hologram stood up from the chair he’d been sitting on and walked over towards Steve and crouched down so he was at eye level, Steve still taller on the couch. 

Tony didn’t say anything for a moment and only looked Steve in the eyes, which were starting to burn. He kept giving him that soft smile and Steve tried to smile back, and ignore the wetness falling down his cheeks.

“The only thing I want from you now is to have everything I had and find your own happiness. Don’t be sad, if you are, and don’t be upset because of me. You deserve a good life. Because everyone who lived through what we did deserves to live in a house by a lake and wake up to a child wanting cuddles. Heroes deserve happiness. I hope you have this one day, Steve.” 

And with that Tony’s last smile destined towards Steve Rogers faded, as well as the blueish hologram.

Steve didn’t know how long he was sitting on the couch, tears running down his face and sobbing into his hands; his heart breaking into its mere molecules.

At some point, Bucky entered and sat down next to him, never saying a word, but by his side. However, the left side of Steve remained cold and lonely. He knew there was someone missing.

A few days later, he was supposed to return the stones to their timelines. He had told Bucky what he was about to do. He had to. That’s why Bucky gave him a hug and wished him good luck before Professor Hulk gave him a thumbs up, signalling everything was ready. 

He had made a decision. 

This time he’d listen to Tony.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this, so please Kudo and comment! Thank you so much for reading, dears! 
> 
> (Also if you like bnha and Bakudeku do know that I’m writing a fic for that! So stay tuned!)
> 
> I’m on deviantart as luckylizart!


End file.
